With a message of protecting the forest because plants are living and that they protect the human race rapped to the tune of Coi Leray's "Players" beat, a group of Aquinas College Advanced Placement (AP) students snagged the overall win of the Forestry Unit of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources' first school's video competition.

They also claimed the $1,500 top prize.

In recognition of Forestry Awareness Week and International Day of Forests schools were invited to create an entertaining, yet educational video on the theme, "A Healthy Forest, for a Healthy Bahamas: We Must Protect Our Forest."

The video entries, which were to bring awareness to protecting the forest, had to be a minimum of one minute and a maximum of five minutes.

Aquinas College's video opens with a bleak forecast of a Bahamas without trees.

Aquinas head girl De'shan Ferguson said it felt incredible to win and have their hard work recognized, given the time and effort they put into developing the video. She said it was an honor and experience that she would never forget.

"Forestry is an important topic in and of itself since we frequently overlook the value of trees in our immediate environment. Many of us are similarly oblivious to the problems that their absence can cause; as a result, it is my hope that by creating such an entertaining and engaging video, others will willingly educate themselves on the impact it has in our community," said De'shan.

"We've all been taught about the importance and advantages of forests in our community, but I don't think we've ever fully considered how destructive their absence may be. We see it every day and expect it to be there, yet without appropriate preservation, we can quickly destroy our forests. As a result, while making this video, my peers and I had the opportunity to truly think and reflect upon its significance in our environment."

It is her hope that her peers will be more inclined to watch a fun rap video on trees than an instructional video. And that the end result would be that they and others would consider the film as a learning opportunity and utilize it to take in and reflect on the video's message. She hopes it would prompt them to think twice before engaging in an activity that could harm the environment.

"This might also spark the interest of individuals in pursuing a profession in forestry, which will benefit our country in the near future," said the head girl.

While making the video, she said she learned about the different types of forests in The Bahamas, their importance in protecting against natural disasters, providing habitat for marine life, and purifying the air that people breathe, among other advantages. She also learned about the native animals that live in the forests and the career options as far as forestry.

Raymond Knight, Aquinas College, head of science department and biology teacher, said he met with the group of AP students and discussed the topic with them. They came together and he said out of that many ideas were born. He said the beat and lyrics from Coi Leray's "Players" song inspired the song's development.

"The window to come up with ideas and create the video was very narrow. The process was tedious because that was the period when they were preparing for the mock examinations. However, the students met in their lunch time and rehearsed as much as they could. The video filming was done in one day due to the deadline and time for editing the video was limited," said Knight.

"We tried to ensure that the melody and hook were catchy, 'cause plants are living too'. The phrase plants are living too actually came in afterwards. The original thing we came up with was plants are organisms too then it was after rehearsing and editing that we realized that plants are organisms too was not catchy and we changed it to plants are living too," said Knight. "We made a number of changes as we went along. We wanted to capture the benefits of what trees provide but wanted to do it in a way that would be easy for students to relate to. We wanted to mix the educational with entertainment. The window for producing this video was short but the objective was to produce something catchy, easy to follow, educational as well as entertaining."

The lyrics for Aquinas College's winning submission were written and edited over a course of three days by students De'shan, Ashli Burrows, Ashley Love, Kierra Rolle, Sydni Rolle, J'Ian Cargill, Elchristma Deveaux and De'Anthony Coakley.

The video was primarily filmed and edited by John Perez and directed by Ashli Burrows. Koda Seymour, created the beats and the video audio editing.

Ashley was ecstatic to see their hard work and dedication recognized and rewarded.

"When we planned and executed the production of this video, we made contemporariness and ease of understanding a priority. Therefore, I hope, given the fact that our song is a remix of a popular contemporary song, this video will appeal to their young minds and they will be more open to take heed to our message and work to protect our forests because plants are living too," she said.

Ashley said the topic is important because of the gradual increase in forest depletion and that it is imperative that they increase calls to action to protect the forests and increase forest education to the public about the severity of the detrimental effects borne from forest depletion as well as the many benefits of the forests.

"Most of my peers generally turn a blind eye to topics like this one. I think this is because they see it as insignificant and are not educated enough about the dangers forest depletion causes on the entire biosphere."

She said she came away from the experience having learnt something new about herself, and that is she has a good ear for music and that she is passionate about protecting the forests and environment as a whole.

"As it relates to what I learned about forests, I became more aware and conscious of the many benefits of forests that we all enjoy on a daily basis," said Ashley.

Kierra was proud of herself, her classmates and her teacher because of the effort they put into making the video and the importance of forests to the survival of humans, as the existence of forests provides oxygen.

It is Kierra's hope that the video will encourage her peers to preserve the forest for future generations to come.

She too took away a new lesson in that forests play a vital role in the survival of humans and the process she said took away her camera shyness.

Shona Knowles, Aquinas College principal, said the school has committed to the recognition and development of each student's God-given creative talent.

"In addition to our history of expanding access to education, the school has a tradition of excellence in the performing arts. Long before the research showing the benefits of arts education to student development became popular, Aquinas College committed to providing students with well-rounded curriculum that integrated music and art. Congratulations to Mr. Knight and the students involved in the production of the 'Trees Are Livin Too' video."

Leandra Kelly, Aquinas College vice principal said the arts are important because they take a holistic approach to education.

"Arts is a way for students to express themselves in creative ways," said Kelly. "We look at one of our 'Expectations of The Bahamas Catholic Board of Education Graduate' which is a centered, well-rounded student. At Aquinas you can very well find students who are studying chemistry, combined science also interested in and studying music, culinary arts and drama. Our curriculum is geared towards developing well-rounded, academically capable students."

R.M. Bailey was second and earned $1,000; C.R. Walker took home $500 in its third place finish.

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